1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to telecommunications, and in particular, to access selection for application traffic.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Modern communication carriers utilize diverse types of access or transport technologies to carry diverse types of traffic. Some types of access are more expensive than other types of access. In addition, some types of traffic require higher priority treatment than other types of traffic. Furthermore, some types of traffic are more valuable to a carrier than other types of traffic.
Many types of traffic are generated by applications that are executed by or are otherwise running on devices, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, or the like. The various types of traffic that are generated by the various types of applications do not all share the same priority or performance requirements. For instance, voice traffic generally receives priority over data traffic and typically must be routed over higher performance links than data traffic.
Unfortunately, prior art systems and networks do not efficiently match traffic with transport technologies. Carriers often times transport low priority or low value traffic over expensive, high performance access links. Other times, carriers transport high priority or high value traffic over inexpensive, low quality links.
In a particular example of the prior art, voice traffic must be delivered quickly over a network, while simple data traffic need not be delivered as quickly. Some transport or access technologies, such as time division multiplexed links, are considered more reliable for voice traffic than other technologies, such as Ethernet links. However, carriers often times route voice traffic over Ethernet links while transporting simple data traffic over time division multiplexed links.
In addition to the varying performance requirements of different types of traffic, some types of traffic are more valuable to a carrier than other types of traffic. For instance, carriers are generally able to charge customers a premium for mobile broadband access, text messages, and ring tone downloads. In contrast, carriers are not able to charge customers a premium for basic services, such as voice calling. Unfortunately, carriers commonly transport high value traffic over inexpensive and lower quality access links, while transporting low value traffic over expensive performance access links.
The mismatch between traffic and transport results in degraded customer experiences. In addition, the mismatch between traffic and transport results in reduced carrier performance.